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Bummer: Tim Hortons & Wendy’s To Open In Fire-Gutted Soma Digs

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Oh my freakin’ God you can’t be serious. Remember that fire that destroyed Slickety Jim, Zocalo, et cetera on the southwest corner of Main and Broadway in November? Yeah, well word is those businesses are going to be replaced with a Tim Hortons and a Wendy’s. We joked back then that the vacant addresses might pave the way for Earls or some such chain, but we never expected this. Bit of a bummer, no? From 24hrs:

Though bulldozers have yet to arrive at the corner of Kingsway and Broadway, a three-alarm blaze Christmas morning has sealed the fate for a number of businesses there.

Now, business leaders such as Jim Dreichel, a Mount Pleasant BIA board member, are fearful developers will place a priority on maximizing profit over supporting a vibrant community when plans are made to erect new buildings.

“When a developer moves in and they put in retail and market rate condos, then it’s those people [who] benefit off the backs of people who made [the neighbourhood] cool,” Dreichel said.

Restaurateur Mike Zalman, who lost Slickity Jim’s Chat ‘N Chew in November, is painfully aware that the cost of opening and operating a business in South Main will increase dramatically as the neighbourhood gentrifies.

“I enquired about the building at the southwest corner of Main and Broadway and found out it’s going to be a Tim Hortons and a Wendy’s,” he said. “It hurts. The gods of progress have started to smite Main Street.”

Started? Nuh-uh. They’re just wrapping up.

UPDATE: a reader points out that it isn’t the burned out joints that are turning into a Wendy’s and a Tim Hortons, but rather the old bank building next door. If that’s true, I’m not sure if it makes much difference to me.

There are 63 comments

  4. It’s actually going in the building on the corner of Main and Broadway this still stands. Has nothing to do with the fire.

  7. Just to let everyone know, as business owners in the neighbourhood (Cascade, Habit) we are also concerned about what will take place in this block, but apparently the plans for Wendy’s/tim’s has been underway for a long time. Their addition to the neighbourhood doesn’t have anything to do with the fire from what we’ve been hearing the last 3-4 months. There’s hope for Earl’s yet!!

  9. they should name Vancouver vanhorton or perhaps petceteraouver or just starbucks.

    MAN
    “hey there where from”

    OTHER MAN
    “Oh I live in starbucks, born and raised, my mom was a barista and also a whore”

    MAN
    “I come from costco county formally known as Red deer Alberta”

  10. Wrong Wrong Wrong!!!! The gentriciation of East Van is blazing ahead! I forsee a forray chain restaurants opening up soon after. It is inevitable as they are the only ones who will be able to afford the new rents. Another example, is the Abraham Block in Gastown. Before the renovation by the Salient Group, the block was occupied by small local restaurants. Now it has a Vera’s Burgers, and rumoured to have a Nando’s chicken next. Gross and more Gross!! I still miss JD’s coffee shop and the korean shnitzel house.

  12. it’s your guys’ own fault, you gentrified the neighborhood too hard.

    TOO HARD.

  13. Neighbourhoods change. When I lived in Mount Pleasant my neighbours were B&E artists, eight-ballers, whores, yuppies and families on welfare. It was vibrant all right, no decent restaurants though.

  15. Wendy’s / Tim’s is going in where the bank building is: on the corner of Main & Broadway NEXT to where the fire was. All this hub bub is due to a badly written article in 24

  16. Umm….wow…Stephanie’s cute, and her web site’s fun.

    (That might be a bit off topic, but I’m puttin’ it out there anyway.)

  17. > All this hub bub is due to a badly written article in 24

    No!!! Don’t tell me 24 is suddenly publishing badly written articles!

    Oh…wait…

  18. This is depressing! As it is, there’s already far too many Starbucks and a dreadful frat bar Coppertank on Main.
    So sad to see chains moving in and not allowing small businesses to grow.

  20. Wow, this is some hard core snobbing. 3 points:

    Tim Hortons is not a sign of gentrification. It’s a symbol of the Canadian working class (not that it should be, but it is).

    Secondly, go to any other city in Canada and you’ll find 5-10 times more Hortons spots.

    Third – Didn’t a Starbucks move into the neighbourhood a earlier this year, did I miss the outcry that time around?

  22. I’m still getting over the fire. That was a good sushi place!

    But really, opening a chain restaurant is the best you can do, with the economy and all.

  23. Calling it “Soma” is so nicely symbolic of the problem anyway. Slickety Jim’s was too Mount Pleasant to survive; Soma means Starbucks and Wendy’s. Hey, if we’re going to parrot American gentrified neighbourhood names, we might as well get American food, too.

  24. This does suck for this neighbourhood but it’s unfortunately part of the price for being a popular part of town. That said, the best reaction is to not spend any money there and to encourage other people not to frequent it either. It may go away if it’s not popular enough . . . but then again it may not go away. If that’s the case, you’ve got to simply ignore it the best you can and spend money at the businesses you do want to stay and thrive in the area. Look at the experience of the Drive. Some chains failed to make a go of it (McDonald’s) while others have blended into the neighbourhood (Starbucks). It would be nice if the area was chain-free but if the residents give the independent businesses enough support, the character of the neighbourhood will remain intact.

  26. Ah, the Main Street crowd. You look up from your hangovers to read that craptastic newspaper 24 and take it as law. It has been mentioned here that the Tim Horton’s/ Wendy’s combo was already in the works… but did any of you care enough about your neighbourhood and go look what was being developed there? Or how about to talk with the business owners n the area to find out what it was? “Nooo! My beloved breakfast place is gone! Wah!”

    Whining about it is useless and quit playing the conspiracy card. Both fires were accidents. Make your own conspiracy theory by getting together with the other slacks and make a big stink.

  27. Great news! I can get a cup of Tim’s coffee, donut or sandwich faster than it ever took for Slickety’s to serve up anything after ordering.

  28. Does anyone know when the Tim Horton’s / Wendy’s is scheduled to open up at that location?

  30. I can’t stand it when people who are obviously not from the neighbourhood instantly spew off about how Wendy’s/Tim Horton’s would be good for the area. I would take Slickety’s over anything served from a chain that I could find in Surrey or Ladner!

  31. I think a Tim Horton’s community park would be a great addition to the area. Coffee cup benches and long john slides for the kiddies.

  32. Oddly enough, the new Slickety’s will be located in Surrey. (affordable rent)

  33. What is with the service at Slickety Jims these days? I have been waiting for a burger for like ever and it’s totally dead in here and kind of cold.

  34. I would like a double with cheese but no tomato and a baked potato with bacon and cheese , Asian boneless wings with cheese and a diet coke, no cheese. And a chili.

  36. Three words: bacon double cheeseburger. I could make out with one of those right now.

  37. Cry me a river. Thats how capitalism works, if you dont like it go live off the grid.

  38. I think that all of you “capitalists” are missing the point. Mt Pleasant is an area with character that doesn’t need a Tim’s or Wendy’s. We need more places like Slickety’s and Zocalo.

    With these recent fires, small businesses like that will not and can not return and that ultimately hurts the neighbourhood in the long run.

    Seriously, would you rather meet up for Sunday brunch at Slickety’s or at Wendy’s?

    And no, I am not going to cry me a river or live off the grid.

  41. Thank you for the dinner invitations cute Scout magazine editor and Jimmy Dean… Were you c***blocking or trying to set up a threesome Jimmy Dean? Not that Im not into it but I am pretty handsy and prefer to be in the middle. I also have a number of strange looking, yet undiagnosed things on my junk. Let me know if you’re into it.

  42. This whining is ridiculous. If you genuinely believe that your neighborhood is “above” chain stores like Tim Horton’s and Wendy’s, then clearly those stores will shut down within a year because all of you high-minded hipsters won’t give it the time of day.

    Ah, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? After all of the posturing about how Main Street inhabitants are so superior to the rest of the Lower Mainland trash, the success of chain stores will confirm that you’re no better than the “rabble.”

    Or is it because two little chain stores will draw in the “wrong crowd?” If you feel so utterly defined by your neighborhood, perhaps you ought to be searching for a personality instead of a hip place to be seen eating.

  43. Hey Michael,
    I’m not into Tim’s or Wendy’s but I’m into Junk.

  48. Can’t deal with people who defend Tim Hortons and Wendy’s. Why do you want to stand up for genetically modified foods and corporate factory spooge? Independent merchants build neighbourhoods that support other local enterprises that benefit the community—not shareholders that live in distant cities. You’re no different than the suburban USA stereotypes that eat at McDonalds and Pizza Slut because they don’t any better. Watch Food Inc and learn where Wendy’s beef comes from. If Tim Horton’s and Wendy’s are Canada’s working class beacons, then my fellow hosers, we’re fucked.

  49. @Forrest People –

    If you’re talking about me, I’m not defending the stores. I dislike them as well, and would obviously much rather have Soma than another Tim Horton’s. What I dislike is everyone here who wants to bitch about getting a Wendy’s and did absolutlely nothing to prevent it — and are likely doing nothing right now.

    This isn’t an attack on the original article, either, although it wouldn’t have killed the writer to actually research his subject rather than just lift the entire thing from a free magazine that gets handed out at the skytrain.

    I dislike people who are all talk and no action and whose high-minded morals amount to whining on a website and insulting everyone who doesn’t live in their neighborhood because somehow their address makes them a better human being with higher standards.

  50. I think we all know that the real emergency is that Conan is getting the rug pulled from under him. I don’t like it one bit.

  52. There is nothing people of Mt. Pleasant could have done to prevent this. Anyone can open any type of business they want on Main Street, subject to local bylaws and zoning. There certainly aren’t any bylaws preventing chain restaurants.

    People have a right to groan, but it’s the age old groan. Reminiscing for the old days, when things were genuine, and had spirit. Yah, the world’s gone to shit.

    The only real power you have is to decide where you spend your money. Educate your friends about why Timmy’s and Wendy’s are bad food, bad for your health, bad for local business, bad for developing countries, and bad for our cultural mosaic. Then spend your money in the dozens of awesome, unique businesses on Main Street and enjoy what we still have.

    Have a nice day.

  53. That plan has been in motion for the past 6 months or possibly longer. There was a rumour late last fall that the Wendy’s deal had fallen through. When did they decided to go ahead with it?

    I’m just curious. I don’t care either way.

  54. Anyone have an update on what’s happening here? Did the Wendy’s deal fall through?

  55. I don’t know who would call this sort of fast food horribleness gentrification. A wine bar would be gentrification, or at the worst a gap. Think granville mall in 1990. This is a place for the kids dealing grams at the bus stop to get some munchies.

  56. Also, to “this is pleasant” , it’s not exactly true that nothing could be done to stop it. When the Gap tried to open on Haight in S.F they were vandalized so many times they just left. Law abiding inaction is not the same as inevitability.

  57. Sorry Thomas, you’re right, illegal vandalism hadn’t crossed my mind when I said there was nothing the residents of Mount Pleasant could do to stop this sort of thing. I suppose we could always burn it down too, right? Careful what you advocate using your full name.

  58. Ah, yes: someone who bought into the neighbourhood with trust fund money is now musing about what might gentrify it. Gee, I wonder.

  59. as a long time resident of MT.PLEASANT not f**king SOMA ,soma makes me angry , it was brought into this area by the developer of soma lofts and like a bad smell never left! , if there are any astoot readers , heres a note , historically the comercial stretch along main from 7th to 12th was known as UPTOWN , i was on the bis for years untill they pissed me off , in their wisdom , they deleted the uptown – end of rant. 2501 main , soon to be horror show , wendy’s / tim hortons, i heard the building will be basically dismembered !! , and for what?? as a temple of everything that uptown is\nt !! , if comercial drive could put a subway out of buisness , we can say f**k-off to this bunch.

  62. bring on tim’s. 9 dollars for a coffee and a sandwich at these other yuppie coffee shops, forget it. half the people here already look unemployed. go ahead and eat at the other coffee shops sitting on your computer all day looking for a job.

  63. […] Micheal Stewart’s Blind Man with a Shotgun column is meant to be provocative, but based on the alternative, isn’t a local business owned by a young entrepreneur the sort of thing No Fun City should be […]

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